Attack on Sarabjit a 'very sad' incident, says PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday termed the attack on Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh in a jail in Pakistan as a "very sad" incident.

"It is very sad," he said when asked about the attack on Sarabjit Singh in a Pakistani jail.

After the attack on him in the Kot Lakhpat Jail, Sarabjit was rushed to a hospital where he was in a "deep coma" and had been put on a ventilator.

Doctors were unable to perform surgery on him because of extensive internal bleeding caused by a severe head injury.

Pakistani local police authorities have registered an FIR against prisoners Amer Aftab and Mudassar following a complaint from assistant superintendent Ishtiaq Ahmed Gill of Kot Lakhpath Jail.

Two officials of the Indian High Commission got consular access to Sarabjit Singh at the ICU of Jinnah Hospital. The Indian mission had contacted Pakistan’s Foreign Office last night to seek consular access.

Sarabjit was convicted for alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Punjab province that killed 14 people in 1990.

His mercy petitions were rejected by the courts and former President Pervez Musharraf.

The outgoing Pakistan People's Party-led government put off Sarabjit's execution for an indefinite period in 2008.